The Art of Magic trilogy
The Art of Magic is a story trilogy written by Rarity Belle. It is a series that consistes out of three dark and bloody story about the true origin of magic and various events. The first story borrows heavy elements from the fiction Rainbow Factory where as the other two are more going into their own direction for story telling. The Art of Magic: Infamy of the Facility The first story in the trilogy that was originally released on June 20 of 2012 before it was then reformatted and re-written. The re-written version was released upon November 11 of that same year. Style The story is told in the third person point of view and written in the past tense. The first version was largely unorganized where as the re-written version followed the same style as The Funeral everypony should go to... The story itself is being told through eight chapters with each of them having a set of lines above them, similar to Rainbow Factory and therefore being one of the main reasons the comparison is drawn between the two. Though unlike that story, The Art of Magic does have both an extended as well as an alternative ending. Though the alternative ending can be nullified because of the sequel that was released on May 30th of 2013. Summary The story begins with Sweetie Belle trying her best to preform a blast of pure magic. It doesn't work the first time and Rarity, who was watching from a sideline, gives her an example of one. As the beam shoots in the air, Sweetie is amazed and wants to try it again. Rarity gives her the opportunity and this time she is successful and Rarity believes her sisters future is secured. A couple days later it is time for Sweetie Belle to be tested on whether she is a True-Unicorn, Half-Unicorn, or the third kind. After a long trip to a unknown Coliseum, the filly is left alone and meets another filly who happens to be the sister of Twilight, Twinkle Sparkle. Eventually the turn is up to Sweetie but due to her nerves she fails them all and is called 'Unworthy'. Resulting in her being locked up in a cell where she is reunited with Twinkle, who also failed. In the end, the two of them are brought to the unicorn equivalent of 'Rainbow Factory', dubbed 'Magic Facility'. A horrible place where unworthy unicorns become magic itself. Yet to make matters worse, Rarity, Trixie and Twilight run the place. They explain the true origin of magic and tell the ponies in the cell that it all comes from the Facility, and that soon enough, they all will be crushed into magic. But before the time is there, Twilight goes to the office of the manager, which being Rarity, and goes into a discussion with her if it is worth it to crush their sisters. Twilight eventually does agree with the idea, but is still having her doubts about it. When the time comes, and they are ready to get crushed, Sweetie Belle unleashes a powerful beam of pure magic allowing Twinkle and her to make a run for it and damaging the machine. Rarity bursts out in rage and follows the two on close hoof. In the final confrontation, Sweetie Belle and Twinkle Sparkle hide in a holding cell only to be found by the mad Rarity. Twinkle is torn to pieces, and Sweetie and Rarity battle it out until Sweetie Belle yields. Rarity orders a personal cell for her, has her hung up by all four of her legs by Twilight, who begins to tear up at the sight. When the time is indeed there, Rarity kills her own sister in cold blood. In the extended ending, Rarity absorbs the power of the bolt of magic that once was her sister's, thus making her more powerful then ever. She ends by singing the song of the Facility, to which the lyrics are unknown. Trixie and Twilight begin to fear for the madmare as they take refuge in Twilight's quarters. In the alternative ending, when Rarity stabs Sweetie Belle, Sweetie wakes up from a nightmare whilst calling for her sister. Rarity comes to help, and after she explains that it was just a nightmare, they both sleep in her bed where they curl up with each other. Their horns are touching each other, giving off sparks. Characters Twinkle Sparkle, Twilight's younger sister and attendee of the Unicorn tests, she has a blueberry colored coat but her mane is unspoken of. An explanation she give for not being mentioned is because her sister always studies and tends to forget her own relatives. Through the later chapters of the story there is spoken of Professor Cosmos, it is said that this particular pony was responsible for the rules by which the Facility lives nowadays. Later on the story Rarity mentions the pony saying she was chosen to lead for how cold-hearted she could be. Aside from mentions, no appearance is given. The story also uses Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Trixie and Sweetie Belle, the first three named don't stay truly true to their show nature as they are leading the Facility. In manners of speaking and apperance they are the same, but their personalities have become much darker and Twilight and Trixie are having a romance together of which is briefly spoken. Sweetie Belle on the other does stay true to her nature in the show for as much as that is possible. Trivia *Both the words 'Enacra' and 'Ci Gam' are mirrored versions of the words 'Arcane' and 'Magic', respectively *There is a fanmade sequel to the story which can be read here while a reading can be heard here *DeviantArt is only place known that holds the original story as it was released on June 20 *The subtitle of 'Infamy of the Facility', was added to the story on February 2nd of 2014 The Art of Magic II: Secrecy of the Facility The second story in the line and was first officially announced on December 30, 2012 when a new deviation appeared on her DeviantArt under the name The Art of Magic 2, new employees. After which came an entire bible of the Magic Facility on January 9th and contains twelve pages of everything the Facility stands for. The bible also contains information about subjects mentioned, but not deeply discussed in the original story. The story itself was finally released on May 30th of 2013, three weeks before the one year existing of the first one. Style The story is written in the same fashion as the prequel but it is having some light changes made to it in order to detatch it from the infamy of being a Rainbow Factory 'clone.' Yet the thing that remained the most, were the words written above the chapters. The story itself is seven chapters long excluding the epilogue it has. While the story is nearly two to three times bigger then the original, it still managed to maintain the same atmosphere about it. Summary The story opens with Rarity reading an invitation to the very funeral of her recently passed away sister but is actually sitting high up in her office in the Facility itself. She read the lines over and over before finally having enough of it and gets a knock on the door. A stallion enters the office and the two of them are having a conversation with one another to return the massive steel building back to it's place of birth, the hidden unicorn capital of Tol Ret Nac. Which, in order to be done, meant that engines needed to be both repaired and fired up that would make them able to actually steer through the air itself. Along the way, three more engineers are joining the stallion to make it a reality. When the engines are finally boosted up, the sheer amount of alarms it rang, caused Rarity to look if there had been any escaped ponies but no matter what, she would never be finding them as they weren't there. Pleased as she is, Rarity goes down to the engines themselves in order to see if they had actually been running and what she caught in her eyes was wonderful. The Facility was finally able again to make the journey back to the city itself. A trip that wouldn't go without a hitch for working in those engine rooms was a slow death sentence to begin with. A thing that all of them would be discovering until it was too late. So in order to prevent any more death from happening, Rarity had conjured a couple of crystal ponies that would be able to withstand the magical corruption that was used to power the devices, while Twilight and Trixie animated them to do the jobs. It seemed to have been the perfect workers, which scared a lot of employees when they were seen. When the Facility finally does arrive in the city, the cloaking shield is being lowered for them and they dock without a hitch in the steam-punk styled city. Even the cloud on which the place was thought to be standing, was revealed to be nothing more but a trick. Rarity then goes on a small trip of her own through the city that was once the home of princess Platinum herself, perhaps the only pony Rarity still has a true repect for. Though as she answers through and about the place, memories of her time before the Facility surface and is being told from her point of view just how she became the manager of the place. Enranged by them, she returns back to the darkness of her Facility where she tries to do one thing, a crazy project that had been lurking in her mind for the longest of time already. Managing the waste product of magic itself. After having read more then enough about the subject, she actually tries it out for herself and the worker who was supposed to be keeping an eye out, rushes herself over to Twilight and Trixie to tell the news. The story ends with Rarity starting to become more and more corrupted by the waste products and goes back to her office where she looks over the arcane monitors to keep everything in check. Characters The second instalment of the trilogy also takes new characters with it. First there are of course the four engineers which are being followed for a good time in the story itself. Each of them is having a unique personality but it is mostly overlooked by the sheer insanity of the place which caused each of them to become bitter. So far even, that they are actually ready to kill some of their own men or even friends. Rarity, Twilight and Trixie also make their return into the story itself. All three of them have become even more insane then in the prvious story, but both Rarity and Twilight are being haunted by their nightmares of the past. Not only their time in the Facility, but also from times before. Trivia *The name of Tol Ret Nac is actually a mirroring of the word 'Canterlot' and spliced into three seperate pieces, a returning feature in the series *Princess Platinum is the only princess that ever lived to have know the secrets of creating magic and lived inside of the city's main and largest tower, it's unknown how she came to her end *While the city is largly based upon the steam-punk style, the next most used resource is platinum itself *Both coverarts look similair, in order to show the progression from one story to the next The Art of Magic III: Reality of the Facility The third and final story in the series and unlike the last story, this one had nothing going before it was published. It was released on June the 20th of 2014, exactly 2 year after the first story's original release. Style The third story is pretty much written in the same style and pacing as the previous two. This story has lost the words above each chapter and drops the reader straight into the adventure. The atmosphere, despite the change of location, is still dark and gritty. Summary The story kicks off right where the previous one ended. A toxic hazard suit wearing mare warns both Twilight and Trixie for the danger that Rarity has become before she is returned to her place. Yet along the way to her department, she is captured by an unknown pony. The pony reveals itself to be the stallion Corron as he needs to know exactly what happened. She tells him her story and he can't believe it. In the end, they part their ways again as Trixie and Twilight plan to see the Facility's doctor on the hope they can do something about Rarity's status. Who on her own turn is beginning to corrupt herself further with the wastes. With her corrution going further, Rarity finds that it is time to cut off certain loose ends and mercilessly murders every last worker from the engine room who isn't nessecary anymore. Keeton, Mush and Corron are among the few who are spared as none can believe in what Rarity had turned into. In the meantime have both Twilight and Trixie gone out and looking for Medic, the Facility's insane doctor) in the hope to come up with a plan to purify Rarity from her corruption. A plan that is easier said then done. Yet the corruption is having a nasty side effect for Rarity, as she starts to think about the day she murdered her own sister. She starts to doubt whether or not it was a good thing to do. Only to come to the conclusion that it had to be done because of the rules the Facility lives by. As the three engineers are bickering over their own future, Medic is the first one to set the plans in motion to capture Rarity. In which he succeeds before Trixie and Twilight strap her into a device that would purify her. Though not before Twilight had some tough words with the mare. Characters Once again, the three main characters remain the same as they had been. With the exception of Twilight and Trixie being more open towards one another. They speak what they think of their pasts and of Rarity's condition. Rarity has grown more insane in this tale as she is being corropted by the wasteproduct of the Facility itself. Driving her slowly but surely crazy. All of the other character have remained the same as well, with the addition of the toxic hazard suit wearing mare. She is a mare who knows what to do in a situation but can be scared to death easily, as demonstrated by Corron. Music piece The music piece, as released on Rarity Belle's YouTube channel. On July 20, 2012 (one month after the release of the story) a YouTube user that goes under the name of JustCross7 (or better known as DJ.TKC The Real Musical Magician) made a track for the fiction which was originally released under the name Rainbow Factory Destruction on his/her channel. It was also uploaded to Rarity Belle's channel under the name of 'The Magic Facility' and is featured in both the Google Docs version of the story as in the description on FIMFiction. Category:Fan fiction